I remember my first day working at Holt Renfrew far too well. It was 10 years ago and the store was the epitome of FASHION and STYLE in retail. I was a wide eyed fashion artist being given a tour amidst shimmering novelty and opulence. Then I was transported to the 2nd Floor where I landed upon the Dolce & Gabbana boutique for the first time and it was electrifying. The innumerable Vogue, Elle and Bazaar magazines I had purchased and perused for years in childhood came to life and my heart now soared.
Being a bubbly and budding fashion artist at the age of 13, I knew I couldn't own or wear any of this mesmerizing decadence but I could illustrate the fashions and in that way they became mine and my identity.
The fashion art style of the 80's and 90's came so naturally to my artistic hand and I loved delivering the sexy message. However I couldn't resist the critics and in turn retaliate against them as an artist. A couple of key comments in my early teens stood out that made me rage and question, from WHERE does fashion art originate?
"Angela can only draw women that well because she draws them the way she wished she looked..."
"Your art (fashion art) looks like something I'd see scrawled on the back of an old workbook... that's not ART!"
"But what does it mean, Angie...it's not ABOUT anything"
Yes and yes, and yes it is...
My ultimate goal was and still is the quest to find that magical balance where the real (apparel) and the surreal (art), have an interface. Artwork actually soars above the reality of the clothes and accessories in a new realm and speaks for itself. Good luck to me I thought, 20 years ago trying to defend this for life. Should I have gone to Ryerson instead of York University? How different would my life be bestowed with the knowledge of the practical application of fabric on the body in the real world? Watercolour and ink and those women were so much more illuminating and ferocious! A kaleidoscope of fictitious conjuring in drawing and painting to seduce and elevate the imagination and I could delight in it at my will. I would actually become physically aroused painting these moments of trend and tribulation. The immaterial fashion art was immeasurably more enormous in value than any Chloé bag or Louboutin pump. Like all art, it spends its existence frozen forever in that moment. Garments are things.
Yves St. Laurent was always my fave. His dance on the balance beam between art and reality was consummate and I know I'll never see another artist like him. Fashion artists and designers today are so fortunate because there are beautiful limits online and beautiful messes online. Imagine if once again we had to look for what we wanted, in a store, a store like Holt Renfrew.
Rule 1 of fashion art : Redesign the body FIRST; put some clothes on it; move it around; you're God and Adam...